While Dysart et al council this week toyed with the idea of a lengthy deferral for proposed changes to the township’s official plan (OP) and zoning amendment bylaw – which would allow certain structures to be built closer to a lake’s shoreline – elected officials indicated, following a Nov. 25 public meeting, they’re ready to approve a new policy.

Council has spent much of 2025 discussing a proposal that would allow waterfront property owners to install any one of a gazebo, shed or sauna within feet of, or in one case actually on, the shore. In his staff report, director of planning Jeff Iles noted the amendment would see gazebos allowed within zero metres of shore, a shed within five metres, and a sauna within 10 metres.

“Currently, no buildings are permitted within the water setback. The amendments are looking to update the policy to allow one accessory building,” Iles said.

The director had previously recommended against proceeding with the change. Current rules stipulate any structure has to be located at least 20 metres from the water. After a thorough public process, which included releasing a survey, holding two open houses and, before this week, one public meeting, Iles questioned whether there was enough public demand to justify altering policies that have been in place for over 20 years.

‘We believe science has not been applied’

In the survey, 56 per cent of 735 respondents said they were in favour of the change, with 40 per cent opposed and four per cent unsure. At a July public meeting, one of 18 speakers supported the plan.

It was a different story on Tuesday, with more of an even split between delegations – four for and two against.

Following a lengthy discussion, council appeared to favour deferring the issue again, with councillors Pat Casey and Carm Sawyer eager for more public feedback. Mayor Murray Fearrey suggested tabling until next year’s municipal election, where the township could hold a referendum.

After Iles cautioned against delaying, noting how anyone who has wanted to provide comments has had ample opportunity to do so, elected officials pivoted. They started to talk about how they could make the amendments more palatable for those opposed.

“If we change the setbacks at all, would that be beneficial? If we said gazebos had to be a bit further back, sheds too, would that appease anybody,” Sawyer asked.

Iles felt there was a “happy medium.” After some back-and-forth, council landed on allowing gazebos to be placed five metres from a lake, while saunas and sheds would remain where they are – a 20-metre setback for saunas and 20-metre setback for sheds on properties built before 2005, or 30-metres for those constructed after.

Iles said he would try to bring an amendment back to council for approval at its Dec. 9 meeting.

What was said

Speaking to the suggested rules – 10 metres for a sauna, five metres for a shed, and zero for a gazebo – Iles said the only way staff felt comfortable agreeing with that was by imposing three requirements – prior to construction of an accessory building, the shoreline vegetation must be restored to a natural state; the development area is not increasing beyond what is currently permitted, which is 20 sq. metres for all combined structures, including decks and stairs; and to increase enforcement.

Council felt those conditions, particularly the one for increased enforcement, would be difficult to meet, hence the change in direction.

Iles noted the township received 38 written comments addressing the change, with 20 opposed, five in favour, and 13 asking question/providing comments but offering no opinion.

Carolyn Langdon, representing the Lake Kashagawigamog Organization (LKO), said the chain lake has serious water quality issues and felt the proposed changes would create more problems.

“Two of our three testing sites have deepwater dissolved oxygen readings wellbelow the provincial threshold required for reproduction and survival of lake trout. Lake Kash had one of the highest readings of dissolved solids in the County,” Langdon said. “Increased nutrient loading from shoreline buildings will exacerbate things. We need to do the opposite and actually lessen the numbers of these things going in.”

Iles noted about six per cent of Dysart’s estimated 8,500 waterfront properties have some form of shoreline structure.

Dayle Hawkins, LKO president, said, “all lake associations are against this. Science indicates accessory buildings erode shoreline protection and increase phosphorous loading. We believe science has not been applied to the proposal.”

Submissions were received from associations on Redstone, Kennisis, Miskwabi, Percy and Grace lakes, with all opposing the move. Figureheads from Environment Haliburton! Harcourt Park and the Coalition of Haliburton Property Owners’ Associations also spoke against the amendment, feeling it would negatively impact local lakes.

Dale Leadbeater called on council to live up to a key statement in its land acknowledgement, read out before each meeting.

“It talks about Dysart promising Indigenous people who cared for these lands and waters and welcomed us as their guest, to pay them respect by… supporting the health and integrity of the lands for generations to come,” Leadbeater said. “If approved, it will only demonstrate that we have learned nothing over the last 500 years.”

Those in favour

Casey took exception to the many comments claiming council doesn’t care about lake health.

“We’re not environmental pirates seeking to destroy the lakes. Most members of council have been here for generations. We’re very well aware of the value of tourism, our lakes and everything of the sort,” Casey said. “This was [proposed] to absolve a bunch a problems we see regularly on our agenda… we didn’t take on this journey to be detrimental to lake health, or be a problem to the public.”

Several residents spoke in favour of the change – Jeff Smallwood, who lives in Harcourt Park, said allowing a shed closer to the water would be beneficial for properties with a steep incline from the shore to their home or cottage.

“Our property has a 45-degree angle… it’s about 60 feet of length and 80 feet of height, so a large hill. Being able to put fishing equipment and a motor in a structure by the lake would make the lake more usable,” Smallwood said.

Glen Lindsay, on Lipsy Lake, agreed. With his home sitting atop a 40-foot hill, he wants to build a small shed by the water.

“If you look at the science, it probably says we shouldn’t have people living on lakes. But we do, because that’s our community. This is part of it too,” Lindsay said. “It’s a shed, a gazebo, or a sauna. It’s not going to melt the planet, I promise you. This is really getting blown out of proportion.”

The Kawartha-Haliburton Children’s Aid Society (KHCAS) will not be shutting its office in Haliburton after all.

In August 2024, the agency announced its intention to close the doors at 73 Victoria St. and drop one full-time staff member.

However, on Oct. 23 of that year, the provincial government appointed a temporary supervisor for the KHCAS, saying it no longer had confidence in the society’s ability to address its operational issues and growing deficit. On the same day, the board of KHCAS announced they had tendered their resignations.

Rosaleen Cutler was appointed as supervisor to oversee and operate the society.

On Nov. 7, the KHCAS announced a new board of directors was in place.

The Highlander reached out to KHCAS last week as there was nothing publicly stated about the Haliburton office or its staffing. Cutler, now executive director, confirmed that “after consultation with other agencies and internal discussions, the agency has determined that maintaining an office in Haliburton is a good plan. KHCAS will continue renting space in Haliburton. This decision has been shared within service agencies, and we apologize if broader community communication was not addressed earlier.”

Culter added, “agency-wide, we did have a job loss, however, it did not affect our Haliburton office.”

The agency said Len Lifchus is the new chair of the board for a two-year term. Joining Lifchus are: Arnold Taylor, Allison Sadowski, Blake Jeffries (treasurer), J. Murray Jones, and John Corso (vice-chair).

“Their collective expertise will help guide the agency as it continues to strengthen its child welfare services, financial sustainability efforts and partnerships within the community,” KHCAS said.

Cutler has led the agency over the last 13 months in the development of a deficit management plan and implementing recommendations from the organization’s operational review. She will continue to lead during the recruitment of a permanent executive director.

Cutler said, “Kawartha-Haliburton Children’s Aid Society has experienced some significant changes over the last few years. I look forward to supporting the board in its establishment of priorities while providing strategic leadership and guidance within agency operations as we move forward.”

Marg Cox, executive director of Point in Time Centre for Children, Youth and Parents, said they were “so pleased” the local office is going to remain open.

“CAS services are not intended to be punitive – and sometimes families reach out directly for help and that is so much harder to do without a local office,” she said. “Having a local office means staff live locally and do not waste a lot of time on the road to get here, understand the community because they do live here, and are more likely to be able to build collaborative relationships with staff from other organizations, like ours.

Cox added, “this means we can team up to provide complementary and supportive services together more often. It also means that the community has a more local location than needing to travel to Lindsay or Peterborough.”

The Point in Time ED said it is also an equity issue. “Haliburtonians deserve a local office, an access point, staff rooted in our community. Gas prices, vehicle prices, poor internet and connectivity, lack of devices, etc., are real barriers that are eased through local geographic access.”

It’s also about trust and relationships, she said. “Trust is earned, and relationships are often built on trust – much easier to build trust and have solid helping relationships when both staff and people utilizing services have less time travelling and more time and access to meet in person.

“It’s not easy to overturn decisions – but so glad that this decision has been overturned allowing for a local presence of KHCAS.”

It’s a Thursday afternoon at the cozy lakeside hub that Youth Unlimited runs in Haliburton village – volunteers are milling around, preparing food for the expected rush of hungry high schoolers, one helper is putting board games onto tables, while Leanne Young, who founded the space last year with her husband, Kyle, waits eagerly to greet her teenaged guests.

The Bridge Youth Centre will celebrate its first anniversary in January – the facility, located at 2 Victoria St. overlooking Head Lake Park, has become a popular landing spot for youth in Grades 4-12 seeking company, or a warm place to hang out with friends once the school day is over.

Young said there are now three distinct programs – one more than when they launched 11 months ago. Mondays are for Grades 4 and 5, Wednesdays are for Grades 6-8 and Thursdays for Grades 9-12. Programs run from about 3:15 to 5:30 p.m.

The hub boasts a homey entryway, large common room, a video game room and kitchen, which is used to prepare full meals on Thursdays – it was tacos last week, while there’s also been hot dogs and Italian food on the menu recently.

Young said she and Kyle started preparing meals for high schoolers months ago after learning that many of their visitors go hungry at some point during the day.

“I had a kid tell me last week that they feel guilty for eating the food in their house, because there’s not very much of it and they’d rather their parents have it,” Young said.

About 20 kids stopped by on the centre’s first day in January, with 65-70 now enrolled regularly. There’s more structure for the youngest cohort, with Grade 4-5 kids needing to be registered. They do outdoor sports, arts and crafts and baking every week. The older groups are less about programming and more focused on unwinding, Young said.

This summer, Young went into Head Lake Park wanting to engage with the dozens of youth hanging around. She connected with two boys, who were looking for something to do – so Young gave them fishing rods.

“They loved it – so much that they kept coming back every Thursday after that,” Young said. “I asked them one day what they would be doing if they weren’t here and they said, ‘probably smoking dope, getting high and getting into trouble.’ These kids aren’t bad kids, they’re just bored. Some of them come from broken families or difficult situations… and they just need that guiding hand.”

Shannon Cole said her 10-year-old daughter has been enrolled in the Grade 4-5 program since September and loves it. Going to the Bridge has extended her daughter’s social circle, Cole said, and added another adult role model to her life.

“Everyone needs that second mom – and Leanne is that to all the kids at Bridge,” Cole said.

While programming is free to youth, there is a cost to everything the Youngs do. Rent is $2,000 a month. Fuel For Warmth covers all heating-related costs, while food is usually donated by Haliburton Foodland and Todd’s Independent.

Young said the Bridge currently has two fundraising campaigns on the go – there’s a Christmas concert and market Nov. 29 at Lakeside Church, from 2 to 4 p.m., with proceeds supporting operations, and a banner advertising program, with local businesses stepping up to help. Young said she’s raised $14,500 through that and hopes to get to $24,000, to ensure rent is completely paid for through 2026.

They have a lease on the Haliburton space until January 2028, though Young said they have no plans to leave. In fact, she wants to continue expanding.

“We need more staff just to maintain what we’re doing – building our team is the next priority,” Young said. “Our dream would be to one day expand into Minden, even if it’s just bringing a program to an existing facility one night per week.” For more information, or to donate, contact Young at leanne@youthunlimitedkaw.com.

There’s a little bit of Haliburton County in the recently-released A Very Jonas Christmas Movie.

Fresh off their appearance in Frankenstein, the canines of Winterdance Dogsled Tours make an appearance in the Disney+ flick.

Tanya McCready said the connection to the latest movie came out of Frankenstein – with many familiar faces on set.

They filmed for the Christmas movie in January 2025.

Asked about the difference between the two, she said, “as opposite as it could be. In Frankenstein, they’re trying to create this outdoor world and they want the epic landscapes of a frozen lake in North Bay and sunsets and all this stuff.

“And this set, it was like we were recreating winter, which, of course, last winter we had an epic winter. There was snow everywhere, but yet they created their winter indoors so it was very controlled.”

She said the first thing they wanted was to ensure the dogs could pull a sled on fake snow. They went the first day to a Toronto studio and Michaela McCready-DeBruin did a test run with no problems. There was a practice day as a stunt double, then a filming day at Heritage Studios.

“They were awesome. We literally drove the truck right in through the stage door and parked right outside the big room they turned into a winter wonderland. The dogs just stayed on their carpets and met everybody going in and out of the stage.” She said people took selfies with the dogs. “It was a great day for everyone.”

When it comes to choosing the dogs, she said they select the best leaders. Piper and Stirling were lead dogs in both movies. Also, they knew the dogs from Frankenstein would be comfortable on the Jonas Brothers set. The others on this one were Sydney and Tolkay. McCready said the caterers offered the dogs anything they wanted to eat, including bacon and steak.

As to future projects, McCready added, “you just never know what’s coming.”

Scott Creighton dusts off the back of an aged panel from the original ‘Gooderham Garage and Livery’ sign that now hangs from the second-floor balcony of the old Barr General Store in the hamlet’s downtown on a sleepy fall Friday morning, pointing out a key error in its design.

“Whoever made it actually misspelt Gooderham,” Creighton said, with the sign not containing an H. “But they caught the mistake before putting it up, so it looks like they turned it around and redid it.”

The hub at 1023 Gooderham St. has been given a new lease on life by Creighton, his wife Susan Browne, and business partner Chris Burker, who have spent a decade refurbishing the building with 129 years of history.

Peter Barr established a general store in the community around 1873, moving into this space in 1896. As more people settled in the area, drawn by work on the rail line and at nearby sawmills, the store expanded its services. Creighton said it once had a gas station and doubled as both a furniture store and funeral parlour.

“It kind of did a little bit of everything. It’s one of the original buildings in town,” said a recently-retired Creighton, who sold off his mechanical contracting business in Toronto last year to move to Gooderham full-time. He and Browne have been cottaging on Contau Lake for 20 years. Before that, Creighton owned land on Pine Lake.

He’s been a regular at the Corduroy Enduro races, held every fall, for years. Knowing this is the place he wanted to retire to, Creighton said he took a leap of faith in 2015 when taking the building on. Since then, the partners have invested about $300,000 and spent thousands of hours fixing it up.

The original stone foundation was cleaned up, with new steel supports installed to strengthen it; the interior was completely gutted, with new plumbing, electrical features, walls and furnishings. The main level now houses a commercial space Creighton is hoping to lease out and one potential residential unit, with two more apartments upstairs.

He said the project had been a real labour of love.

“The easiest thing for us to do would have been to knock it down, but then we would have lost all of the heritage and history,” Creighton said. “We kept the look of the old store as best we could. I found lots of old photos. We wanted to restore it so that it can become a central point of this community again.

“I just felt like the town needed a spark. This was an eyesore for a lot of years. We wanted to do our part to beautify the town… hopefully this is the first step, maybe others will catch on, and we can modify the town and get it back to where it was. This was a booming place back in the day,” he added.

Asked what type of commercial tenant he hopes to attract, Creighton said a coffee store or café would be a great fit for Gooderham’s downtown.

“That was the original plan when we bought the place 10 years ago – I’d fix it, and Susan and I would run a coffee shop with a biker theme. Being right at the interaction of CR 503 and CR 507, there’s opportunity here,” Creighton said. “I just want to see something come in that adds to the community… there are so many things this town needs.”

Creighton said he, Browne and Burker intend to be largely hands-off now after putting in 10 years of work.

“It feels good to do something for this community, but this place has been a bit of a money pit for 10 years. It’s finished now, there’s a bit of a legacy there, but it’ll be real nice to get some new tenants in and see this become everything we hope it can be,” he said.

Two Haliburton businesses have partnered to help restore prairie grasses in the Oak Ridges Moraine – that may one day help the endangered Kirtland’s Warbler and other species to survive and thrive.

Baz Conlin of Haliburton Micromeadows has been contracted by the Northumberland Land Trust, part of the larger Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust. He said the two Land Trusts are working with partners to restore 80 hectares for the bird, and other species, including those threatened (Barn Swallow, Bank Swallow, Bobolink, Eastern Meadowlark, Eastern Whip-poorwill, Grasshopper Sparrow, Eastern Hognosed Snake) and those of special concern (Golden-winged Warbler, Snapping Turtle, Midland Painted Turtle, and Monarch Butterfly).

Kirtland’s Warblers have very specific habitat requirements, typically nesting in well-drained sandy soils covered in large forests of young Jack Pine, a habitat often created by fire. They lay their nests on the ground, hidden away under low lying branches of young Jack Pines with a thick cover of understory plants, such as grasses, sweet-fern and blueberry.

That’s where Conlin comes in – helping to bring the grasses that are needed.

“Basically, they are trying to restore a shortgrass prairie full of native grass species, and then they’re creating a young Jack Pine forest in this area to try to create habitat for these birds, so it’s like a bottom-up restoration project,” Conlin said.

He added they are looking for different species of grasses that would have originated in Pine-Oak savannah or tall prairie grass ecosystems. However, because of development, and fire suppression, there’s less than one per cent of the original coverage in Ontario.

“So, finding large enough populations of these species in order to collect enough seed to sow 80 hectares is a lot. You need about three to five pounds per acre of seed and the seed weighs nothing.” He added it’s very hard to collect in the wild and takes an inordinate amount of time.

One of the grasses is Little Bluestem, which Simon Payn of Grounded has planted at his Lucas House garden, which houses Grounded, The Highlander, Lebo Law, and Corner Gallery.

“The grass that Simon’s growing, Little Bluestem, is a major component of these ecosystems and his seeds come from a very small remnant population in the Pontypool area of Kawartha Lakes,” Conlin said.

He believes they are from a Hydro corridor there. Conlin visited the Lucas House garden and was able to collect about 10 gallons of seed, which ended up being three to five pounds, enough to restore a large area in the Moraine.

He said there are seed purveyors in Ontario, but the seeds are often cultivated from the northern U.S. and don’t produce what he is looking for. “

By collecting the seeds that Simon’s grown, we are preserving local genetics, and we are getting those local genetics back onto the land to essentially restore those tree (such as Jack Pine) populations.”

He added that Abbey Gardens have also offered Little Bluestem grass from their sand pit restoration as a seed source in the future.

For now, though, he said, “we have this small little planting from The Highlander that comes from seeds from a very rare isolated population and the genes of that plant are being preserved by collecting those seeds at The Highlander and then sowing them on this large property, and it’s a partnership between all these groups.” Another contributor is Fleming College, Peterborough, which sowed the seeds at the site.

Payn said, “I love that the garden at Lucas House is breathing new life into a prairie. It shows how we here in the Highlands can work together and help the natural world.”